New Eagle
The original Eagle ceased publication in 1969 after a successful 20 year run, and was thereafter 'merged' with Lion. The title was relaunched by Fleetway on March 27th 1982, and while it was only ever officially 'Eagle', it has become generally known in reference works since then as the 'New Eagle' in order to differentiate it from its predecessor. Predictably, the lead strip in the revived Eagle was Dan Dare, now starring the great grandson of the original Dare (or a reasonable facsimile thereof; see individual entries) in a seemingly endless epic entitled 'Return of the Mekon'. The breakout strip in those early issues though, was Doomlord, the story of an alien sent to pronounce judgment on the human race. Like a number of other stories in the title's first two years, Doomlord was a photo strip, featuring models in costume with limited special effects and dialogue boxes added. A second photo strip in the early issues was sports story Thunderbolt and Smokey, and the third was Sgt. Streetwise, about the somewhat cliched adventures of undercover cop Sgt Wise, a graduate of the Gene Hunt school of Policing. The final photo strip in the original lineup was 'The Collector', a series of unconnected, Twilight Zone style tales narrated by a white haired old man who had a story about each item in his bizarre collection. The framing sequences of each story, featuring the collector himself, were actual drawn strips (by Ron Smith), while the main story each time was told in photos. In addition to Dan Dare (which had the colour centrespread and back page), there was also another traditional comic strip, The Tower King, the saga of one Mick Tempest, effectively elevated to the status of a feudal lord based in the Tower of London in a near future in which a faulty satellite has rendered it impossible for anything electrical to function. The strip was written by Alan Hebden and drawn by Jose Ortiz, and it seldom gets the attention it deserves. The Tower King lasted 24 issues, until a stray meteor hit the satellite and normal service was resumed. Eagle also featured a regular column by DJ Mike Read and features on and pin-ups of celebrities such as then current Doctor Who Peter Davison and Altered Images singer Claire Grogan. From September 1983 the photo strip content was dropped and the comics format changed to a slightly larger but less expensive one with no glossy covers and cheaper paper stock. In later years, Eagle absord a number of other titles including Tiger, Battle, M.A.S.K, Wildcat and Scream!. It also eventually began including more and more reprinted strips from titles such as Valiant ('One Eyed Jack') and 2000AD ('Ant Wars', 'Flesh', 'M.A.C.H One') for reasons of cost. In May 1991 it switched to monthly frequency (featuring mostly reprints) and stayed that way until it was cancelled in January 1994. Eagle Annuals were published from 1983 until 1992. New Eagle Strips * Avenger * Ant Wars * Blood Fang * Crowe St. Comp * Dan Dare * Dan Dare (Original) * Death Wish * Doomlord * Ernie * Flesh * Gaunt * House of Correction * House of Daemon * Jake's Platoon * Joe Alien * Joe Soap * Kitten Magee * Loner * M.A.C.H One * M.A.C.H Zero * Manix * Marathon Man * M.A.S.K * Monster * One Eyed Jack * Saddle Tramp * Sgt. Streetwise * Shadow * S.O.S * The Adventures of Fred * The Amstor Computer * The Collector * The Fifth Horseman * The Fists of Danny Pyke * The Hand * The Invisible Boy * The Thirteenth Floor * The Tower King * Turbo Jones * Walk or Die * Thunderbolt and Smokey Category:IPC/Fleetway Publications Category:Dan Dare